


History Will Hate Us (But They'll Never Forget Our Names)

by defectiveambidextrous



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, General Ironwood (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defectiveambidextrous/pseuds/defectiveambidextrous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinder and Emerald break the system, one crime at a time.</p>
<p>Real world AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	History Will Hate Us (But They'll Never Forget Our Names)

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for implied sexual themes, and themes that could be construed as abusive.

"Miss Emerald Sustrai, you are charged with numerous counts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping, and assault. How do you plead?"  
"Guilty."

She was dirt-poor when Cinder saved her. Picked her up, turned her into someone with purpose. Dismantling the system was just part of their lives, conducting business in seedy bars and ransacked shops. Her purpose, so synonymous with serving her saviour, could take on different forms depending on the case. Theft, arson, murder. Nothing was too much.

Two blocks away from the burning church Emerald found herself pressed against solid brick, burning kisses scorching her neck. The thrill of the kill always excited Cinder, made her rush, so unlike her usual calculated self. Emerald wasn't sure which side she loved more. She couldn't pinpoint when the kisses turned to bites but she would never dream of complaining.

They met over Emerald's first kill. Self defence. He was armed and motivated, she was small and scared. She had no choice.  
(Cinder would tell her later that she indeed had no choice, but not because of her aggressor. She had no choice because it was in her nature. All she had to do was let go.)

Her family's riches were not enough for Cinder, who always craved more. More money, more power, more control. Emerald would help her get it, give it to the woman herself if she could. It was so natural for her to submit to a power like Cinder's. She would moan for her saviour whenever she desired it, and always on Cinder's terms.

"Ironwood won't be pleased we escaped again." Emerald stuttered between breathy whimpers. "Especially when he knows what I did."  
She felt Cinder's smirk grow against her collarbone, before teeth scraped across it and she shuddered.  
"And what did you do?"  
Hands, scorching hands touching her, blurring the lines of pain and pleasure. A moan.  
"Back pocket."  
Cinder slid one hand there, fingers closing around something cold and solid. Her smile was genuinely amused.  
"Ironwood shouldn't be so worried about what we did. Rather, he should be concerned about what we're going to do." The barrel of the gun dug into Emerald's back as Cinder kissed her, deeper and deeper, and she found herself realising she didn't care. She would let Cinder love her no matter what.

She hated when Cinder did this. She knew it was essential, that she was only playing a part, but her stomach still tightened into a knot. He was too close to her, burning hands running through his hair to relax him. His faith in gods and deities would not help him; they could not get him now, but they would find a way.  
(Cinder would make it up to her later. One hand around her throat, the other roaming, making her forget the events of earlier, forget everything that wasn't her saviour, her giver, her life, her love, oh god-)

Cinder never asked why she had been in the cargo hold of a Fall family ship in the middle of winter. On dark days Emerald suspected she didn't care, on others she believed Cinder wanted to give her a fresh start. She didn't ask Emerald much. She never had to.

Their latest victim was an Englishman, over on business and without a friend. Emerald was almost always the decoy. (Cinder said it was her eyes that made her so trustworthy. Her innocence. There was no way of guessing the atrocities she had committed by just looking at her. That was why Cinder had to be the seductress, and Emerald the friendly face.) Emerald played her part, making up some bullshit philosophy on socialism and the common man that she could have studied had she ever been to school. The man was charmed by her youth and companionship, eyes failing, heart malfunctioning, not noticing her emptying his pockets and briefcase for her own gain.

Cinder was always in control. When Emerald was lost, confused or helpless, she always knew where to turn. She sometimes wondered who Cinder turned to when she felt insignificant, but she soon shook those feelings. Cinder would never feel such things. Cinder was the strong one.

One day, rather unexpectedly, Cinder dropped a dead body to the floor and locked eyes with her. "I'm going to marry you one day," she said. "Then you'll be mine forever." Emerald shivered under her gaze. She thought it was a frivolous desire; as if she would ever leave Cinder anyway. Still, she would do it if that's what Cinder wanted of her. Whatever Cinder said was law.

The old man was planning to leave, and so Emerald was too, but in true inconvenient fashion he decided to stay for another pint. She couldn't slip away from him, even when she received the signal that Cinder was safe in the getaway car. Then she heard the sirens. She leapt to her feet, vaulting the bar and grabbing something out of her deep pocket. In seconds it was lit and thrown unceremoniously into the booze shelf. The firecracker exploded. Flying glass, then combusting alcohol. He never stood a chance. Emerald threw herself into the passenger seat of the car, and it began to move immediately. The woman behind the wheel quirked her lips into a smile. "Took you long enough."

Rewards and punishments were unsettlingly similar in Cinder's world. The only difference was how it would end. She was remarkably unselfish in this regard; Cinder gave and gave without asking to receive in return, of course only when deserved.  
(She whispered in her ear the reason why as she ran a finger down the dark skin of Emerald's spine. Just watching her writhe beneath her made everything worth it. Emerald's face heated up with pride.)

They only made it halfway through the ceremony before it was rudely interrupted. Ironwood, of course, wouldn't let them have one day to themselves, not even their wedding day. The church was on fire in minutes and the vows hurriedly concluded in an alleyway, hidden from their uninvited guests. They had the last laugh, though, when Cinder put the General's pistol to good use that night. If Emerald could form a coherent thought she would have suggested taking a picture, letting him know exactly how they defiled his property, but the only things occupying her mind were the vague sense of danger and the face of her saviour.

Cinder went down first. A shot from Ironwood's fucking second in command, not even the man himself. Emerald cradled her body as best as she could, desperately trying to keep her awake, when the towering figure of the General blocked out the sun.

"On the charges of second-degree murder, seven counts, armed robbery, four counts, arson, two counts, kidnapping and assault of a police officer, the jury finds the defendant..."  
"Guilty."

**Author's Note:**

> I should have been working on my other fic but here we are. First time writing anything remotely like this. Got edgy at times. Worth a shot.


End file.
